Armor is used in a variety of military applications for protection against ballistic projectile threats. The armor's ability to stop a projectile is a function of armor material toughness, hardness, energy absorbing impedance mismatch and material thickness. The distance between the point of initial impact on the outer armor surface to the innermost surface of the armor is also critical. In general, the greater this distance, the better the protection.
Current armor technology utilizes layers of hard materials interleaved with layers of resilient materials. For example, panels of metal or ceramic can be layered with a polymer and/or ceramic or other energy-absorbing, hard/tough materials (e.g., KEVLAR, SPECTRA, etc.). The general theory is that better protection is achieved using a greater number of layers. However, to protect against modern-day projectile technology, the thickness of the armor (i.e., number of armor layers) needs to be quite substantial in order to stop high-energy kinetic rounds. Protection against shaped charges also depends upon distance from the initial hard surface and the shaped charge's jet contact point with the armor's outer skin. The longer the stand-off, the greater the particulation of the shaped charge jet upon impact with the armor surface thus lessening its ability to penetrate by erosive process through the armor.
In the current art, the only methods used to increase ballistic protection involve (i) adding thick metal or ceramic plates or other hard materials, (ii) increasing the thread count of the ballistic fabric material (e.g., KEVLAR, SPECTRA, etc.) layers, (iii) increasing the number of layers of ballistic fabric and neoprene/polymer materials, and/or (iv) making spaced composite armor assemblies in which a plurality of plate armor with woven material composite assemblies are arranged in a spaced apart fashion. However, each of these methods increases the weight and cost of the armor.